The Righteous, The Prophets and the Children.
While we are called to welcome absolutely everyone, in today’s gospel there are three groups of people that we are specifically asked to look out for.
They are prophets, the righteous and little ones. In this day and age these words aren’t familiar to us and I wonder if we would recognise these people if they walked through the door. So perhaps it might be helpful if I played around with these terms and offered my guesses as to who our modern-day prophets, righteous and little ones might be.
The prophets. Whenever I hear the word prophet I can’t help thinking of Nathan the prophet who called King David to account for his disgraceful behaviour with the beautiful bathing Bathsheba. Nathan didn’t go ballistic at David although he had every right to and it would have been understandable. Instead, Nathan the prophet quietly, and with great restraint, tells David a story about a wealthy guy stealing a poor man's sheep and hopes that David will understand that he is the wealthy guy who has nicked the lamb that is so precious to his neighbour. But no, David doesn't get it and Nathan has to very clearly spell it out.
So I am guessing that our modern-day prophets are those who without hesitation, call out wrong where they see it. Moreover, they do so by leading the naughty to arrive at the point of repentance by their own volition. It’s quite an art form. To say the hard things graciously without blowing your top or thumping your fist is a gift. But,.. we ought always to be listening because sooner or later a prophet will speak to us and we ought to not only welcome them, not only listen but also be prepared to act on their advice. Their words will make us squirm because we know deep down, at our very deepest level, that they are quite right and that we should have seen our errors a long time ago. Prophets are our friendly irritants.
And the righteous. The righteous are those who are right with God, right with others and therefore right within themselves. It is not a matter of outward observance but righteousness is a continuous striving for what is right often without knowing it. So Matthew will tell us in his powerful Beatitudes that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled or satisfied. And in his parable of the sheep and the goats, the righteous are not even aware that they are the ones doing good things.
Remember this bit…Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?”
The righteous are those who have striven for righteousness for such a long time that it is just a part of their daily lives. It is simply what they do and most importantly, it is who they are. The righteous.
And the little ones.
The little ones probably can refer to the small in physical stature like children, but it should also include those who, like children, are vulnerable, those who are not heard in our society and have no voice. They are those who cannot repay us for any kindness we offer.
And the cup of cold water business…
The Teacher is not giving a literal command to give a cup of cold water so much as He is describing a type of action that will be rewarded by God. The fact that Jesus uses such a routine action, such as providing a drink of water reminds us that this principle applies to any action of service, no matter how unremarkable. So it is in the little, ordinary, everyday actions that we find ourselves and we find Him. The seemingly dull and unimportant things are really sacramental by nature for they convey the grace of God. It is in the dull and the boring, the commonplace and the conventional, that God is working out his purpose and his salvation. In the pots and the pans, in the vacuuming and mowing, in the grimy dishes and the hot sudsy water. In the listening and the silence and maybe even, goodness gracious, in tedious homilies. We miss glimpsing Him because we see and do the everyday and commonplace things and actions all the time. Little ones, prophets and the righteous are those who do not hold themselves aloof with some sort of pious air of superiority. They are our everyday brothers and sisters, people that we rub shoulders with and shake hands with. They are in the grit and grime of our everyday stuff. They are the ones who say the hard things graciously and who call us back, not to gloat or because they are grumpy with us, but because they love us and want the very best for us. They are the ones who will gently tell us a story and patiently sit back and wait for us to finally get it. And when we do, then we will find that we are the thirsty and the hungry, that we are the poor who can never repay the abundance of His magnanimous grace.
And far from us arrogantly thinking that it is us welcoming others, perhaps it is us who need to be welcomed back.